Forecast

Closing the budget 'breadbox'

Word is that lawmakers are making progress on reaching a budget deal. But how close?

By Casey Seiler
| on March 27, 2014

Video by Casey Seiler, Times Union.

Media: Times Union

Albany

They're getting close, but nothing is closed down. Many things are on the table, but progress is being made. And everyone is optimistic.

These and other standard budget-season bromides were employed Thursday by three of the four men in the room when they met Capitol reporters following two rounds of leaders meetings in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.

Asked what percentage of budget issues have been resolved, Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said, "It's bigger than a breadbox."

Sen. Jeff Klein said the discussion was down to "technical issues," but then reeled off a list of large policy matters that still needed such tinkering.

Time is running out for these vague assurances to turn into legislation on paper: The current state fiscal year ends Monday, and Cuomo has expressed an unwillingness to send the Legislature the "messages of necessity" that would allow the Senate and Assembly to waive the standard three-day waiting period during which bills must "age" on lawmakers' desks.

That means the full set of budget bills would have to be distributed in both chambers by 11:59 p.m. Friday in order to allow for a marathon round of debate, voting and bill-signing on Monday, just in time for a fourth on-time state budget in as many years.

Among the sticking points that remain are the perennially thorny topic of education funding, especially the question of how much money for pre-kindergarten education will go to New York City, and how much will be devoted to the rest of the state. Current numbers being tossed around by anxious lobbyists suggest that the city could be in line for $300 million or more for that effort, which has been championed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, while school districts across the rest of the state would get funding in the neighborhood of $100 million to be spent on a range of programs.

Cuomo's push for a two-year "freeze" on property taxes for homeowners whose taxing entities manage to find structural savings could be tweaked to give those entities credit for streamlining efforts in the recent past, as opposed to just the future.

Video by Kyle Hughes, NYSNYS.com

Media: Times Union

Another controversial topic involves the creation of a system to provide public financing of campaigns, which is opposed by Republicans as a waste of taxpayer money. Progressive advocates are already pushing back against the possibility that Cuomo's proposal could be whittled down to apply only to the race for state Comptroller.

Karen Scharff of Citizen Action called that proposal "a joke. ... It doesn't change anything that needs to be changed."